Saudi Arabia's Al-Nafūd Desert has experienced an unprecedented weather event, transforming its warm dunes into a winter wonderland. For the first time in recorded history, snow blanketed parts of the Al-Jawf region in the northern Al-Nafūd desert,

Rolling dunes, typically golden and sunbaked, lie transformed by snow and balls of ice – this is what a desert in Saudi Arabia looks like right now

Saudi Arabia’s National Center for Meteorology reported that heavy rainfall was accompanied by hailstones on Nov. 2. Many referred to the hail as snowfall, likely due to its appearance, but temperatures were simply too warm to support winter precipitation.

Saudi Arabia’s typically arid desert in Al-Jawf has turned into a winter wonderland as snow has blanketed its sand dunes.